Free Assassin of Gor by John Norman Page B

signature knot.
     
    "If I am going to learn your knot," she said, "there is no reason why you cannot learn mine."
     
    "Elizabeth," I said.
     
    "Vella," she corrected me.
     
    "Vella," said I, "in spite of all you have been through on this world you yet retain certain of the taints of the Earth woman."
     
    "Well," she said, "it seems to me only fair." Then she smiled mischievously. "My knot will be quite as complex as yours," she said.
     
    "I do not doubt it," I said, dismally.
     
    "It will be quite enjoyable to invent a knot," she said, "but it must be feminine, and it must reflect my personality."
     
    I groaned.
     
    She put her arms about my neck and lifted her eyes to mine. "Perhaps," she said, "after Vella has been fully trained Master will find Vella more pleasing."
     
    "Perhaps," I admitted.
     
    She kissed me lightly on the nose.
     
    "You cannot even dance," I informed her.
     
    Suddenly, she stepped back, threw back her head, thrust one leg to the side, and lifted her arms. Then, eyes closed, not moving, except the heel of the right foot, which beat the rhythm, she began to hum a Tuchuk slave song; on the second measure, her hands came to her hips and she opened her eyes, looking at me; on the third measure, her body began to move and, to the melody, she began to sway toward me; when I reached for her she swept back, and danced, her hands at the side of her head, fingers snapping with the melody.
     
    Then she stopped.
     
    "It's all I know," she informed me.
     
    I cried out in rage.
     
    She came to me and put her arms again about my neck. "Poor Master," said she, "Vella cannot even dance."
     
    "Nonetheless," I said, "I see that Vella has possibilities."
     
    "Master is kind," she said. She kissed me again, lightly on the nose. "Master cannot have everything," she said.
     
    "That is a sentiment," I said, "which few Gorean masters will accept."
     
    She laughed. "It could be far worse," she said. "At least I am a Red Silk girl."
     
    At this I swept her from her feet and carried her to the broad stone couch in the room, where I placed her on the piles of furs that bedecked it.
     
    "I have heard," she said, smiling up at me, "that it is only a Free Companion who is accorded the dignities of the couch."
     
    "True," I cried, bundling her in the furs and throwing the entire roll to the floor at the end of the couch, beneath the slave ring. With a flourish I unrolled the furs, spilling Elizabeth out, who shrieked and began to crawl away, but my hand caught at the loop on the left shoulder of her garment and she turned suddenly, trying to sit up, her feet tangled in the garment and I kicked it away and took her in my arms.
     
    "If you like me," she asked, "will you buy me?"
     
    "Perhaps," I said, "I do not know."
     
    "I think," she said, "that I would like you for my master."
     
    "Oh," I said.
     
    "So I will try to please you," she said, "that you will buy me."
     
    "You are not now in the purple booth," I said.
     
    She laughed. The allusion was to certain practices having to do with the merchandising of Red Silk Girls, in private sales for individual and important clients of the House.
     
    At certain times of the year several such booths are set up within the courtyard of a slaver's house; in each, unclothed, chained by the left ankle to a ring, on furs, is a choice Red Silk Girl; prospective buyers, usually accompanied by a member of the Caste of Physicians, in the presence of the slaver's agent, examine various girls; when particular interest is indicated in one, the Physician and the slaver's agent withdraw; when, after this, the girl is not purchased, or at least seriously bid upon, she is beaten severely or, perhaps worse, is touched for a full Ehn by the slave goad; if, after two or three such opportunities, the girl is not sold, she is given further training; if after this she is still not sold she is usually returned to the iron pens whence, with other girls, considered to be of inferior value,